Indian Education System
The world is divided on the effectiveness of Indian education, the rhetoric revolves around the amount of engineers and doctors India produces, Extensive Brain Drain India faces, and the effectiveness of the syllabus which in some cases can lack creativity.
The intent of this post is to discuss the strength and weaknesses of the education system, not just in the classrooms and the laboratories, but also in our own household; to come up with ways and methods where we can facilitate the education of our next generations.
Later in this thread, I would love to discuss more complex issues like Attitude, Knowledge, Teachers, innovation and intent/application, but to avoid loss of direction, for the few initial posts, I would like to learn more about the personal opinions from all members across the board to come up with suggestion based on their own experiences, the problems they faced or are facing w.r.t the school or colleges they went to. In retrospect what kind of change would they have liked, which could have prepared them better for life?
To kickstart this discussion,
My personal experience:
When I was in higher secondary school (8,9,10 grades) the entire focus of the syllabus seemed to built around securing good scores on the 10th (SSC)grade examination. And to achieve that goal, I was sent to tuition classes for additional help in Sanskrit, hindi, Marathi. There were others who almost opted for tuitions which dealt with almost every subject. Neither the school nor the tuitions helped in creating “discussion” about the content but was focused on the memorization of textual answers for textual questions. The intent of the syllabus in adding the question after each chapter was to create the thought process to arrive at right answer, but the way the system worked was to mark a few lines in the text and present it as the answers completely defeating the purpose of the exercise, the same weakness of the process was reflected in examinations subsequently with students reproducing the expected answers and deviation from the standard answers resulting in a penalty, and hence ensuring the curb on creativity.
History, especially world history is fascinating to me till this day, the entire experience was killed by the school by making the entire process a date and event memorizing exercise rather than discussing the chain of events, alternate scenarios to great historical events. It often felt that documentaries and TV shows had much better insight in learning rather than what was being dispersed in the classroom.
other than that we did have a really good sports program at my school (Cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, and track) that's something we enjoyed, National Cadet Corp was great, and then we had a science club: where the members were given a book series on famous scientists. I remember that having a profound impact on me during the secondary school years.
I have mixed emotions about the engineering syllabus that I went through, there were quite a few inherent measures taken towards good constructive intent which got translated into poor execution. E.g. In the first year of engineering, students are taught introductory subjects on mechanical, electrical, electronics, civil, computer engg and chemical, but rather than trying to educate about the broader scope and building the imagination for the application on a grand scale of what the professional future might hold in each of these group, the syllabus was again aimed at non-value added basic problem solving and the same age old textual answers, proofs, derivations, all exemplifying lack of imagination or creativity.
I can’t speak for all, but in the second and third year of engineering, we were bombarded by information (at least what it seemed like it back then) with some useless redundant activities. Machine design, theory of machine, strength of material, metallurgy, welding and foundry, technology of production systems had some brilliant sections, some of them I have thoroughly enjoyed even if they were associated with similar grading scales, and the expectation from the examiner was to recreate answers according to the book. But still, the information in these subjects was strong enough to have a thorough understanding of the subject matter and still have the time and inclination to learn the expected curriculum’s protocol for the examinations
What transformed my engineering education was my final year project, where all of the bombarded information throughout the previous two years came together in unison to make sense in all the madness. My project was to design a special-purpose machine, where the same professors who taught design and analysis day and night provided their valuable insights to guide us in designing, the spindle > selection of the motor> design of the column> design of the frame> rack and pinion> design bed of machine> finite element analysis> drafting of production sheets> assembly modeling> bill of material>Fabrication >welding and inspection> grinding and finishing> installation> testing and finally drafting the installation and operation manual. The entire experience for a group of novice students was incredibly rewarding.
The learning process in the six months of the project gave us a richer experience than everything else that amounted to that point in my life.
My experience was enhanced by my final year project, but not everyone is that lucky to get a kick a$$ project in their final year. It is obvious that education will not prepare to be effective on the first day of work, every profession comes with a different set of expertise which we gain through years of experience, but the important thing I believe is to create the ability to understand new concepts, make every student familiarized with relevant technologies, and providing as many tools as you can for learning.
During my Master’s program in the US, things began to change and changed quite drastically. No longer was there a standard syllabus, there wasn’t any order in which I was to take classes (except for the ones with pre-requisites) Grades were no longer an issue, as you could easily pick classes to get easy A’s if you wanted to. The only focus now was to get good at subjects that interested you. There were open book exams, cheat sheets, take-home exams, and makeup projects, things I had never imagined could/would have existed. Now the focus was to become the best within your own ability, the exams/projects/directed studies were no longer to reproduce answers per the book but to impress the professor by how much you understood of the subject. Around this time I was also working as a Teaching Assistant for the department of Mechanical Engg, i.e I taught the Labs for CAD and CAM 500 level courses and supervised machine shop classes for various undergrads and grad courses, helped professor grade papers for various subjects. One thing that stood out for me for the American education system was the weakness in mathematics across the board, undergrad and grad students alike struggling with calculus which was in stark contrast with Chinese/Indian/Iranian students who did not seem to any issues with Calculus. That took me back to how the Indian education system, for all its ills, made us solve thousands upon thousands of problems from multiple question banks that would circulate in the local book stores near the colleges to get good at calculus in JC and Engineering. Practice was something missing in American education system, while it was second nature for the intl students in the university.
That sums up my take. Share your thoughts on how your experience was in the Indian Education system, how it shaped you, what did you feel was lacking.
@Ashwin @nair @Gautam @_Anonymous_ @suryakiran @Parthu @Falcon @Sathya @randomradio
The world is divided on the effectiveness of Indian education, the rhetoric revolves around the amount of engineers and doctors India produces, Extensive Brain Drain India faces, and the effectiveness of the syllabus which in some cases can lack creativity.
The intent of this post is to discuss the strength and weaknesses of the education system, not just in the classrooms and the laboratories, but also in our own household; to come up with ways and methods where we can facilitate the education of our next generations.
Later in this thread, I would love to discuss more complex issues like Attitude, Knowledge, Teachers, innovation and intent/application, but to avoid loss of direction, for the few initial posts, I would like to learn more about the personal opinions from all members across the board to come up with suggestion based on their own experiences, the problems they faced or are facing w.r.t the school or colleges they went to. In retrospect what kind of change would they have liked, which could have prepared them better for life?
To kickstart this discussion,
My personal experience:
When I was in higher secondary school (8,9,10 grades) the entire focus of the syllabus seemed to built around securing good scores on the 10th (SSC)grade examination. And to achieve that goal, I was sent to tuition classes for additional help in Sanskrit, hindi, Marathi. There were others who almost opted for tuitions which dealt with almost every subject. Neither the school nor the tuitions helped in creating “discussion” about the content but was focused on the memorization of textual answers for textual questions. The intent of the syllabus in adding the question after each chapter was to create the thought process to arrive at right answer, but the way the system worked was to mark a few lines in the text and present it as the answers completely defeating the purpose of the exercise, the same weakness of the process was reflected in examinations subsequently with students reproducing the expected answers and deviation from the standard answers resulting in a penalty, and hence ensuring the curb on creativity.
History, especially world history is fascinating to me till this day, the entire experience was killed by the school by making the entire process a date and event memorizing exercise rather than discussing the chain of events, alternate scenarios to great historical events. It often felt that documentaries and TV shows had much better insight in learning rather than what was being dispersed in the classroom.
other than that we did have a really good sports program at my school (Cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, and track) that's something we enjoyed, National Cadet Corp was great, and then we had a science club: where the members were given a book series on famous scientists. I remember that having a profound impact on me during the secondary school years.
I have mixed emotions about the engineering syllabus that I went through, there were quite a few inherent measures taken towards good constructive intent which got translated into poor execution. E.g. In the first year of engineering, students are taught introductory subjects on mechanical, electrical, electronics, civil, computer engg and chemical, but rather than trying to educate about the broader scope and building the imagination for the application on a grand scale of what the professional future might hold in each of these group, the syllabus was again aimed at non-value added basic problem solving and the same age old textual answers, proofs, derivations, all exemplifying lack of imagination or creativity.
I can’t speak for all, but in the second and third year of engineering, we were bombarded by information (at least what it seemed like it back then) with some useless redundant activities. Machine design, theory of machine, strength of material, metallurgy, welding and foundry, technology of production systems had some brilliant sections, some of them I have thoroughly enjoyed even if they were associated with similar grading scales, and the expectation from the examiner was to recreate answers according to the book. But still, the information in these subjects was strong enough to have a thorough understanding of the subject matter and still have the time and inclination to learn the expected curriculum’s protocol for the examinations
What transformed my engineering education was my final year project, where all of the bombarded information throughout the previous two years came together in unison to make sense in all the madness. My project was to design a special-purpose machine, where the same professors who taught design and analysis day and night provided their valuable insights to guide us in designing, the spindle > selection of the motor> design of the column> design of the frame> rack and pinion> design bed of machine> finite element analysis> drafting of production sheets> assembly modeling> bill of material>Fabrication >welding and inspection> grinding and finishing> installation> testing and finally drafting the installation and operation manual. The entire experience for a group of novice students was incredibly rewarding.
The learning process in the six months of the project gave us a richer experience than everything else that amounted to that point in my life.
My experience was enhanced by my final year project, but not everyone is that lucky to get a kick a$$ project in their final year. It is obvious that education will not prepare to be effective on the first day of work, every profession comes with a different set of expertise which we gain through years of experience, but the important thing I believe is to create the ability to understand new concepts, make every student familiarized with relevant technologies, and providing as many tools as you can for learning.
During my Master’s program in the US, things began to change and changed quite drastically. No longer was there a standard syllabus, there wasn’t any order in which I was to take classes (except for the ones with pre-requisites) Grades were no longer an issue, as you could easily pick classes to get easy A’s if you wanted to. The only focus now was to get good at subjects that interested you. There were open book exams, cheat sheets, take-home exams, and makeup projects, things I had never imagined could/would have existed. Now the focus was to become the best within your own ability, the exams/projects/directed studies were no longer to reproduce answers per the book but to impress the professor by how much you understood of the subject. Around this time I was also working as a Teaching Assistant for the department of Mechanical Engg, i.e I taught the Labs for CAD and CAM 500 level courses and supervised machine shop classes for various undergrads and grad courses, helped professor grade papers for various subjects. One thing that stood out for me for the American education system was the weakness in mathematics across the board, undergrad and grad students alike struggling with calculus which was in stark contrast with Chinese/Indian/Iranian students who did not seem to any issues with Calculus. That took me back to how the Indian education system, for all its ills, made us solve thousands upon thousands of problems from multiple question banks that would circulate in the local book stores near the colleges to get good at calculus in JC and Engineering. Practice was something missing in American education system, while it was second nature for the intl students in the university.
That sums up my take. Share your thoughts on how your experience was in the Indian Education system, how it shaped you, what did you feel was lacking.
@Ashwin @nair @Gautam @_Anonymous_ @suryakiran @Parthu @Falcon @Sathya @randomradio
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